Wednesday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Daisy Coleman attempts suicide

Daisy Coleman, the teenager at the center of a small-town rape scandal in the US has been hospitalized following a suicide attempt.

Her mother, Melinda Coleman said in a Facebook post that Daisy tried to take her own life on Sunday after she was “terrorized” by teens on Twitter when she briefly attended a party.

In January 2012, Daisy accused a 17-year-old boy from a prominent local family of raping her while she was drunk and then leaving her on her family’s doorstep in the freezing cold.

Daisy described the ordeal in her own words in a blog post last October.

“On Twitter and Facebook, I was called a skank and a liar and people encouraged me to kill myself. Twice, I did try to take my own life,” she wrote.

Her Mother has called on hacktivist group Anonymous for support.

If you or anyone you are close to needs help contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or contact Suicide Prevention via this link 

2. Bali mother and daughter deaths

It has been confirmed that the QLD coroner will investigate the deaths of Noelene Bischoff and her 14-year-old daughter Yvana who died while holidaying in Bali.

News limited are reporting this morning that Indonesian drugs used to treat an allergic reaction have been found their hotel room

Indonesian police have revealed they found 29 prescription and non-prescription medications in the pair’s room, including two Indonesian-made anti-allergy drugs.

3. Man who slapped child sentenced

The man who slapped a crying child on a plane last year has been found guilty and sentenced by a Federal Court in the US.

For more on this read this post here. “Joe Hundley sentenced by Federal Court” .

4. Guards humiliate asylum seekers

Guards at Manus Island processing centre have discussed an asylum seeker who swallowed a pair of nail clippers on Christmas Day on one of their Facebook pages publicly ridiculing him.

The Guardian have reported the post read “Merry Christmas all. One of these jokers just swallowed a pair of nail clippers. RALMFAO. A Christmas I shall not easily forget,”

A number of other officers “liked” the post and commented.

A spokesman for G4S, the company providing the staff to Manus Island confirmed it would be launching an investigation into the matter.

5. Asylum seeker lifeboats

Fairfax Media has reported the government is buying up to 16 hard-hulled lifeboats to which asylum seekers can be transferred and returned to Indonesia if their own vessels are unseaworthy.

The news came as Indonesian police said Australia had turned back two asylum-seeker boats in recent weeks, prompting Jakarta to once again voice its condemnation of the policy.

 6. US arctic freeze

In the US it has been colder at Chicago airport, a record-breaking 26 degrees below zero – or 42 below with wind chill – than it was at the South Pole, where it was minus 23.

The National Weather Service in the US warned that “potentially life-threatening wind chills will continue through [until] Tuesday morning”.

At least 12 deaths have been blamed on the cold front.

Chicago six “warming centres” were established for homeless people, and the city’s largest homeless shelter prepared to break its record of overnight visitors, 1016, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

A meteorologist in Wisconsin has gone viral demonstrating how boiling water turns to snow instantly in the freezing temperatures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGr0mO2DMCc

 7. Reprieve for Ali Choudhry

A gay man living in Brisbane has won a temporary reprieve from being deported to Pakistan where he could be jailed for his sexuality. Mamamia has reported on this previously.

Ali Choudhry has been living in Brisbane for four years with his partner, Brisbane neuroscientist Dr Matthew Hynd.

He is due to be deported after his application for a partnership visa was refused by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

He has now lodged an appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) and the Immigration Department says he can remain in Australia on a bridging visa while the appeal is considered.

“At no time was Mr Chaudry in danger of being deported,” a spokeswoman for the Immigration Minister said.

8. Yasmin lawsuit

Over 600 Australian women will be involved in a lawsuit involving the contraceptive pill Yasmin. The women say they have suffered serious side effects after taking the popular contraceptive pill.

In 2011, an American study of more than 800,000 women who took the pill found that the risk of blood clots was up to three times higher than other contraceptives.

In the US, media reports suggest the pharmaceutical company that produces the drug, Bayer, has settled thousands of cases and paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to women who claim they suffered blood clots while on Yasmin and Yaz.

10. Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher’s wife, Corinne, has called on reporters to leave her family alone and to stay away from the Grenoble hospital where her husband is in a medically induced coma.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail has reported that faulty ski bindings may have been the cause of the Formula One champion’s accident.

9. Gender pay data axed

The organisation that provides data on graduate salaries has removed gender-based information because of concerns it was being misconstrued in stories about pay disparity.

Graduate Careers issued a media release last year accusing the federal government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency of oversimplifying the data when it used the information to declare male graduates earned $5000 more than females.

 11. Ralph Lauren’s niece in court

The niece of fashion designer Ralph Lauren has appeared in court charged with being drunk and abusive on a plane over an alleged air rage incident.

Jennifer Lauren is accused of breaching the peace and being intoxicated on the Delta Air Lines flight, which had to be diverted to Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland.

12. Evander Holyfield’s ant-gay rant

Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield has caused controversy in the UK where he is appearing on UK Celebrity Big Brother.

Holyfield has said that being sexually attracted to the opposite sex is a choice and that being gay is ‘not normal’ but an affliction that can be “fixed” with the care of a good doctor.

His comments were condemned by producers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmw7LLUOvWU

13. Former Miss Venezuela and her husband murdered.

Monica Spear, 29, became Miss Venezuela in 2004. Ten years on she and her husband were gunned down by robbers in front of their five year old daughter on their family holiday.

Spear moved to the US to escape the well-known Venezuelan crime – some describing it as worse than a war zone. Her 39 year old UK husband, Thomas Berry, her daughter and Spear were holidaying in Venezuela when their car reportedly broke down on the highway. Robbers approached and the couple resisted by locking the doors. The robbers responded by opening fire, killing Spear and Berry and injuring their daughter in the leg.

A friend of the couple told NBC News that Spear “was a really happy, outgoing person. She didn’t need luxury. They only needed each other. She wasn’t flashy. She was a beautiful person to be around.”

Armed car robberies resulting in murder is reportedly very common in Venuzela.

What news are you talking about today?